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WESTERN SAHARA CASE

SANDRA M.T. MAGALANG

WESTERN SAHARA CASE 1


CASE SUMMARY
Facts: On December 17, 1974, the UN General Assembly by Resolution 3292 requested the ICJ to give an advisory opinion on the following questions: 1. Was Western Sahara (Rio de Oro and Sakiet el Hamra) at the time of colonization by Spain a territory belonging to no one? (terra nullius)

If the answer to the first question is in the negative, 2. What were the legal ties between this territory and the Kingdom of Morocco and the Mauritian entity?2

This request took place in the context of decolonization of Western Sahara, formerly a protectorate of Spain. Morocco and Mauritania are rival claimants, both arguing that portions of the disputed area formed part of their pre-colonial territories and seeking to have the former colony re-integrated to their respective national territories. Held:1. Western Sahara at the time of colonization by Spain was not terra nullius. 2. [There are] legal ties of allegiance between the Sultan of Morocco and some of the tribes living in the territory of Western Sahara. [There are also] legal ties between the Mauritanian entity and the territory of Western Sahara. [However, such] do not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanian entity.3

CASE EXCERPTS
Turning to Question I, the Court observes that the request specifically locates the question in the context of the time of colonization by Spain, and it therefore seems clear that the [question has] to be interpreted by reference to the law in force at that period .4 According to State practice of

Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1975, p.12. Id. at 14. 3 Id. 162 at 68. 4 Id. 79 at 38-39.
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that period, territories inhabited by tribes or peoples having a social and political organization were not regarded as terrae nullius. [I]n the case of such territories the acquisition of sovereignty was not generally considered as effected unilaterally through "occupation" of terra nullius by original title but through agreements concluded with local rulers.5 In the present instance, the information furnished to the Court shows that at the time of colonization Western Sahara was inhabited by peoples which, if nomadic, were socially and politically organized in tribes and under chiefs competent to represent them. It also shows that, in colonizing Western Sahara, Spain did not proceed on the basis that it was establishing its sovereignty over terrae nullius.6 The Court's answer to Question 1 is, therefore, in the negative and, in accordance with the terms of the request, it will now turn to Question II.7 Question II asks the Court to state what were the legal ties between this territorythat is, Western Saharaand the Kingdom of Morocco and the Mauritanian entity. The scope of this question depends upon the meaning to be attached to the expression legal ties in the context of the time of the colonization of the territory by Spain It appears to the Court that in Question II the words legal ties must be understood as referring to such legal ties as may affect the policy to be followed in the decolonization of Western Sahara.8 Morocco's claim to legal ties with Western Sahara has been put to the Court as a claim to ties of sovereignty on the ground of an alleged immemorial possession of the territory. This immemorial possession, it maintains, was based not on an isolated act of occupation but on the public display of sovereignty, uninterrupted and uncontested, for centuries In support of this claim Morocco refers to a series of events stretching back to the Arab conquest of North Africa in the seventh century A.D [It invokes] inter alia the decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice in the Legal Status of Eastern Greenland case (P.C.I.J., Series A/B, No. 53),

Id. 80 at 39. Id. 81 at 39. 7 Id. 83 at 40. 8 Id. 84-85 at 40-41.


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[maintaining] that the historical material suffices to establish Morocco's claim to a title based upon continued display of authority.9 In the view of the Court, however, what must be of decisive importance in determining its answer to Question II is not indirect inferences drawn from events in past history but evidence directly relating to effective display of authority in Western Sahara at the time of its colonization by Spain and in the period immediately preceding that time (cf. Minquiers and Ecrehos, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1953, p. 57).10 (emphasis supplied) In appreciating the evidence presented by Morocco, the Court took into account the special structure of the Sherifian State, saying that where sovereignty over territory is claimed, the particular structure of a State may be a relevant element in appreciating the reality or otherwise of a display of State activity adduced as evidence of that sovereignty.11 [T]he Sherifian State at the time of the Spanish colonization of Western Sahara was a State of a special character... Its special character consisted in the fact that it was founded on the common religious bond of Islam existing among the peoples and on the allegiance of various tribes to the Sultan, through their caids or sheikhs, rather than on the notion of territory.12 As evidence of its display of sovereignty in Western Sahara, Morocco has invoked alleged acts of internal display of Moroccan authority and also certain international acts said to constitute recognition by other states of its sovereignty over the whole or part of the territory. The principal indications of internal display of authority invoked by Morocco consists of evidence alleged to show the allegiance of Saharan caids to the Sultan, the alleged imposition of Koranic and other taxes, and what were referred to as military decisions said to constitute acts of resistance to foreign penetration of the territories Emphasis is also placed by Morocco on two visits of Sultan Hassan I in person to the southern area of the Souss in 1882 and 1886 to maintain and strengthen his authority in the Southern

Id. 90-91 at 42. Id. 93 at 43. 11 Id. 94 at 43-44. 12 Id. 95 at 44.


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part of the realm, and on the dispatch of arms by the Sultan to the south to reinforce their resistance to foreign penetration.13 Having considered this evidence and the observations of the other States which took part in the proceedings, the Court finds that neither the internal nor the international acts relied upon by Morocco indicate the existence at the relevant period of either the existence or the international recognition of legal ties of territorial sovereignty between Western Sahara and the Moroccan State.14 Even taking account of the specific structure of the Sherifian State, the material so far examined does not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between Western Sahara and that State. It does not show that Morocco displayed effective and exclusive State activity in Western Sahara. It does however provide indications that a legal tie of allegiance had existed at the relevant period between the Sultan and some, but only some, of the nomadic peoples of the territory.15 (emphasis supplied) As to the various international agreements presented by Morocco claiming external recognition of the Sultans alleged territorial sovereignty in Western Sahara, the Court ruled that [the] agreements are of limited value in this regard; for it was not their purpose either to recognize an existing sovereignty over a territory or to deny its existence. Their purpose, in their different contexts, was rather to recognize or reserve for one or both parties a sphere of influence as understood in the practice of that time.16 The Court thereafter took up the question of what were the legal ties which existed between Western Sahara, at the time of its colonization by Spain, and the Mauritanian entity. The term Mauritanian entity was first defined as a term used by the General Assembly to denote the cultural, geographical and social entity which existed at the time in the region of Western Sahara and within which the Islamic Republic of Mauritania was

Id. 98-99 at 45. I.C.J., Summary of the Advisory Opinion of 16 October 1975, available at http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=323&code=sa&p1=3&p2=4&case= 61&k=69&p3=5. 15 Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1975, 107 at 49. 16 Id. 126 at 56.
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later to be created.17 According to Mauritania, that entity, at the relevant period, was the Bilad Shinguitti or Shinguitti country, a distinct human unit, characterized by a common language, way of life, religion and system of laws, featuring two types of political authority: emirates and tribal groups.18 Recognizing that this entity did not constitute a State, Mauritania nevertheless claims that the Bilad Shinguitti was a community having its own cohesion, its own special characteristics, and a common Saharan law concerning the use of water-holes, grazing lands and agricultural lands, the regulation of inter-tribal hostilities and the settlement of disputes.19 Mauritania suggests the concept of nation and of people to explain the position of the Shinguitti people at the time of colonization.20 As to the legal ties between Western Sahara and [this entity] the views of Mauritania are as follows: At the time of Spanish colonization, the Mauritanian entity extended from the Senegal River to the Wad Sakiet El Hamra. That being so, the part of the territories now under Spanish administration which lie to the south of the Wad Sakiet El Hamra was an integral part of the Mauritanian entity. The legal relation between the part under Spanish administration and the Mauritanian entity was, therefore, the simple one of inclusion... That part and the present territory of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania together constitute "the indissociable parts of the Mauritanian entity".21 In the present case, the information before the Court discloses that, at the time of the Spanish colonization, there existed many ties of a racial, linguistic, religious, cultural and economic nature between various tribes and emirates whose peoples dwelt in the Saharan region which today is comprised within the Territory of Western Sahara and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. It also discloses, however, the independence of the emirates and many of the tribes in relation to one another and, despite some forms of common activity, the absence among them of any common institutions or organs, even of a quite minimal character. Accordingly, the

Id. 131 at 57. I.C.J., Summary of the Advisory Opinion of 16 October 1975, available at http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=323&code=sa&p1=3&p2=4&case= 61&k=69&p3=5. 19 Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1975, 136 at 59. 20 See id. 138 at 60. 21 Id. 139 at 60.
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Court is unable to find that the information before it provides any basis for considering the emirates and tribes which existed in the region to have constituted, in another phrase used by the Court in the Reparation case, "an entity capable of availing itself of obligations incumbent upon its Members" (ibid.). Whether the Mauritanian entity is described as the Bilad Shinguitti, or as the Shinguitti "nation", as Mauritania suggests the difficulty remains that it did not have the character of a personality or corporate entity distinct from the several emirates and tribes which composed it. The proposition, therefore, that the Bilad Shinguitti should be considered as having been a Mauritanian "entity" enjoying some form of sovereignty in Western Sahara is not one that can be sustained.22 (emphasis supplied) Nevertheless, the General Assembly does not appear to have so framed Question II as to confine the question exclusively to those legal ties which imply territorial sovereignty, which would be to disregard the possible relevance of other legal ties to the decolonization process.23 Accordingly, although the Bilad Shinguitti has not been shown to have existed as a legal entity, the nomadic peoples of the Shinguitti country should , in the view of the Court, be considered as having in the relevant period possessed rights, including some rights relating to the lands through which they migrated. These rights constituted legal ties between the territory of Western Sahara and the Mauritanian entity.24 Thus the Court, being mindful of the purpose for which the Advisory Opinion was sought, held in its penultimate paragraph: The materials and information presented to the Court show the existence, at the time of Spanish colonization, of legal ties of allegiance between the Sultan of Morocco and some of the tribes living in the territory of Western Sahara. They equally show the existence of rights, including some rights relating to the land, which constituted legal ties between the Mauritanian entity, as understood by the Court, and the territory of Western Sahara. On the other hand, the Court's conclusion is that the materials and information presented to it do not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between

Id. 149 at 63. I.C.J., Summary of the Advisory Opinion of 16 October 1975, available at http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=323&code=sa&p1=3&p2=4&case= 61&k=69&p3=5. 24 Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1975, 152 at 64-65.
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the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanian entity. Thus the Court has not found legal ties of such a nature as might affect the application of resolution 1514 (XV) in the decolonization of Western Sahara and, in particular, of the principle of selfdetermination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the peoples of the Territory.25

25

Id. 162 at 68.

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